Horse-feeding device.



PATENTED JULY 21, 1903.

H. STILL. HORSE FEEDING DEVIGE. APPLICATION FILED ARR. 1%,.1903.

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PATENTED JULY 21, 1903.

H. STILL. HORSE FEEDING DEVICE.

APPLICATION IILED APR. 16, 1903.

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UNITE STATEs PATENT iPatented July 21, 1903.

OFFICE.

HENRY STILL, OF BALTIMORE, MARYLAND.

HORSE-FEEDING DEVICE.

SPECIFICATION formdng part of Letters Patent No. 734,103, datedJ uly 21, 1903.

Application filed April 15,1903. Serial No. 162,760. on model.)

T on whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, HENRY STILL, a citizen of the United States of America, and a resident of 700 EastMonument street, Baltimore, Maryland,have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Horse-Feeding Devices,

horses head and provided with a reservoir.

containing food, from which the food is allowed to escape into the pan in small quantities and the horse is enabled to let the feed down into the pan within reach of his lips as it is consumed. At the same time the pan is kept suspended in a horizontal position from the horses head, so as not to spill its contents.

Figure 1 represents the feeding device suspended from the head of a horse which is in the act of feeding from it. Fig. 2 is a vertical section of the device in the position which it will occupy when suspended from the head of a horse. Fig. 3 is a plan view of the device, and Fig. 4is a perspective view of the device with some of the parts broken away.

Referring to the drawings, 1 is apan, made,

preferably, with a horizontal upper edge and inclined rear surface (marked 2 in'Fig. 2) and a bottom, the lowest point of which is abou t the center of the pan (marked 3) and inclined upward, as at 4. Across the center of the pan, a little to one side of the center and toward the inclined bottom 2, is a pivoted-door 5.

The door 5 is pivoted just on the interior of the basin and just below the upper edge at the point 6 and extends downward,inclining toward the center of the basin .to a point slightly behind the point'3, which is the deepest portion of the basin. On one of the sides of the basin thereis an opening through which protrude pins 7, 8, and 9. These pins are all located upon the end of a piece of strong metal 10,which is secured to the exterior of the basin and by which they are held in the hole through which they pass, protruding as far as possible into the basin. The pins 7, 8, and 9 are so arranged that they may ongage the edge of the door 5 and hold it in one of three different positions. In Fig. 2 the door is shown as held between the pins 7 and 9., In that-position the door has a certain amountof play-thatis to say, the pins 7 and 9 are such a distance apart as to permit the door to swing back andforward between them,

and yetbe limited .inits motion by them.

The pins 8 and 9. are so located in their relations to each other that when the door is held-between them it willfbe held rigidly in a position shown in dotted lines in Fig. 2, leaving a greater aperture below the edge of the door than in the position shown in full lines. When the door is behind the pin 7, it will be wholly closed and the lower end of it will rest upo'n the bottomof the pan, and it will be held firmly bythe pin-71in a locked position, as shown in dotted lines in Fig. 2. The variouspositions above described are useful for purposes which will be hereinafter set forth. The basin is made approximately elliptical in shape and' conical in the bottom-that is to say, there is a point slightly back of the center which'is deeper than any other point of. the: basin andqto which the sides converge all around. The door 5 is lo- 'cated just back of the deepest point, which in Fig. 2is marked 3,"and'when grain from the hopper, formed by the bag and therear ofthe basin and door,is fed down under the door 'into the bottomof the basin it will be concentratedat thedeepest portion of the basin, and as it.-is thrown away from that point by the motion of the horses lip it will always fall back to the center, where the horse can most easily gather it up.

11 is a bag or food-receptacle closed at the upper end and secured at the mouth to the rear edge of the pan 2 and also to the upper edge of'the door 5. It may be secured in any suitable manner, by sewing or riveting or by wire lacing. It is only necessary that the fastening is such as to be strongand not to permit the escape of food which may be placed in the bag. The upper end of the bag is suspended from a cord12, and the basin is suspended from a halter 13; The halter has a head-strap 14 and a nose-strap 15. The cord 12, by which the upper-end of the bag is suspended, and the head-strap 14 are secured together at the top of the horses head by the bag at one end and the halter 13 at the other end and is free to swing upon those two points of support and maintain its level no matter what the position of the head of the horse may be. The halter may be adjusted so as to tit the varying lengths of heads of different horses.

In the lower edge of the door 5 is located a stirrer 16, which consists of a piece of wire bent into a loop at the front and having two inwardly-projecting ends which are spread apart and which rest loosely in a hole in the end of the door. It may be desirable to onlarge the exterior end of the stirrer, so that it may be more easily moved by the lip of the horse.

The operation of the device is as follows: When it is to be filled with grain,-the door 5 is released from its clamping device 10 and thrown wide open, the bag inverted, and the charge of grain or other food placed in the bag. The door is then closed tight, and the pin 7 when released will pass in front of the door and holdit locked in a closed position. The feeder may then be handled and transported at will without wasting any of the feed contained in the bag. WVhenit is to be used for feeding, the cord 12 and halter 13 are placed over the horses head, with their point of union at the top of his head behind his ears. The feeder will then be suspended from the top of his head, and the basin should stand in a horizontal position. The halter may be adjusted so as to secure this result. The door may then be unlocked and located either between the pins 7 and 9, where it will have a certain swinging motion, which may be given to it by the lower lip of the horse, in which case as the feed falls down below the door it will be taken up by the horse from the bottom of the pan, and when such portion of the feed as may have escaped below the door has been consumed the horse will strike the swinging door with his lip and throw it backward against the pressure of the descending feed. As soon as he relieves his pressure upon the door it will swing forward under the pressure of the feed and a portion of feed will fall out below it into the pan, and this operation will be completed until all the feed is slowly consumed. As the horse strikes the door he will also strike the stirrer l6 and move the feed behind the door, so as to prevent its clogging at that point and accomplish a free and easy feed below the door. If the horse feeds very slowly naturally and it is desired to facilitate his feeding, the door may be set between the pins 8 and 9, so as to hold it rigidly in a position (shown in dotted lines in Fig. 2) somewhat wider open than the position of the full lines. In this position the door will not swing, and the horse will be compelled to get his food down partly by gravity and partly by the shaking of his head and of the feeder. In either case the advantages of the device will be manifest. They consist, first, in the fact that the horse feeds from the basin with his nose entirely uncovered, so that he can breathe freely; secondly, he will be compelled to feed slowly, because only a very small portion of feed will escape from the bag and hopper into the pan at one time; this will insure thorough mastication of the food and good digestion; third, the food cannot be wasted, because the pan will retain a constant relation to the horses mouth, will remain in a horizontal position, and the amount of food in the pan will at no time be more than the horse can get into his mouth, so that there will not only be no disposition on his part to waste the food, but there will be so little food in the pan at a time that wasting will be avoided.

Having thus described my invention, what I claim as new, and desire to secure by Letters Patent, is

1. In a device for feeding horses the combination of a pan having a pivoted door therein extending from the upper edge toward the bottom of the pan, with means for limiting the motion of the door, with a bag closed at one end and open at the other, and being secured at the open end to the rear edge of the pan, and to the pivot of the door, substantially as described.

2. In a device for feeding horses the combination of a basin having pivoted transversely thereof a door which extends from the pivot downward to the bottom of the basin,

and a bag having its mouth secured to one side of the basin, and to the pivot of. the door.

3. In a device for feeding horses the combination of a basin provided with a pivoted door, the pivot being located at or near the edge of the basin, and transversely thereof, and the door extending down toward the bottom of the basin to a point near its center, in combination with a bag having its mouth secured to one side of the basin, and to the pivot of the door, with a suspensory device consisting of two straps or cords, one of which is secured to the upper end of the bag, and the other to the free edge of the basin beyond its center, the two suspensory cords being united so as to hold the basin in a horizontal position suspended from a single point.

4. In a feeding device the combination of a basin with a door pivoted below the edge of the basin, and extending downward toward the bottom of the basin, with a bag having its mouth secured to one side of the basin, and to the pivot of the door, and means for locking and unlocking the door.

5. In a feeding device the combination of a basin with a door pivoted below the edge of the basin, and extending downward toward the bottom of the basin, with a bag having its mouth secured to one side of the basin, and to the pivot of the door, and means for locking and unlocking the door, so as to lock it in a desired position closed or nearly closed, or unlock it so that it may be opened wide.

6. In a feeding device the combination of a basin with a door pivoted below the edge of the basin, and extending downward toward the bottom of the basin, with a bag having its mouth secured to one side of the basin, and to the pivot of the door, and means for locking and unlocking the door, and a stirrer and unlocking the door, the lock being so constructed as to permit a limited swing of the door when locked.

8. In a device for feeding horses the combination of a basin provided with a pivoted door, the pivot being located at or near the edge of the basin and transversely thereof, and the door extending down toward the bottom of the basin to a point near its center, with suspensory devices for the basin attached thereto at at least four points, and uniting in a single pointvof support on the top of the horses head, whereby the basin is maintained in a horizontal position.

9. In a feeding device the combination of. a basin with a door pivoted at the edgeof the basin, and extending downward toward the bottom of the basin, with a bag having its mouth secured to one side of the basin, and to the pivot of the door, and means for locking and unlocking the door in any one of three positions, locked to close'the hopper, or slightly open while permitting a certain amount of play to the door, or locked fast at a certain extent of opening.

10. In a feeding device the combination of a basin approximately conical in shape, with a door pivoted below the, edge of the basin, and extending downward toward the bottom of the basin, at a point in the rear of the point of greatest depth, with a bag having its mouth secured to one side of the basin, and to the upper edge of the door, substantially as described.

ll. In a feeding device the combination of a basin substantially elliptical in shape and having a conical bottom, with a door pivoted at the edge of the basin on one side, and extending downward toward the bottom of the basin, the lower end of the door being at one side of the point of greatest depth, with a bag having its mouth secured to one side of the basin and to the upper edge of the door, substantially as described.

12. In a feeding device the combination of a basin substantially elliptical in shape, having a conical bottom, with a door pivoted transversely at its edge in one end, and extending downward toward the center, and terminating 'before reaching the point of greatest depth, with a bag having its mouth secured to one sideof the basin and to the top of the door, substantially as described.

Signed by me at Baltimore, Maryland, this 13th day of April, 1903.

- HENRY STILL. Witnesses:

HOWARD D. "ADAMS, E. R. BERKELEY. 

